Images printed on canvas are commonly stretched over an internal frame so that no part of the internal frame is visible in the images' final state of display. Because the frame commonly has an appreciable thickness, typically 15 mm to 50 mm, excess fabric inescapably gathers at the corners of the frame as the canvas is wrapped about the frame. When the fabric is to be placed into a frame, as is often the case with traditional paintings on canvas, this extra material is simply formed into a fold and fixed to the frames' outer surface, for example, by stapling.
It has become a popular practice to leave certain artworks in an unframed state for display. This allows the imagery to electively continue around the sides of the frame and provides a pleasing effect of depth and expansiveness. However, when a graphic image is displayed in this manner, the added bulk of a corner fold often remains visible. Furthermore, manually tensioning a canvas in the conventional manner requires tools such as canvas pliers to exert enough tension to discourage sagging of the fabric over time. This strategy therefore demands both strength and skill.
In the case of artworks of smaller scale, various methods and materials have been devised so that the appearance of stretched canvas can be given without significantly tensioning the fabric material. A considerable degree of effort has been directed to frames that employ precoated and often preprinted canvas that inherently lies relatively flat. This relatively stiff material can be assembled such that the extra corner material is cut and folded over the mitered faces of the bars prior to or during the assembly of the frame.
More specifically, small flaps of fabric are typically wrapped over each angled miter face at its acutely angled end. An attractive corner with a finished seam is formed when two such miter faces are joined at each corner. These artworks have become known colloquially as gallery wraps or studio wraps, and are popular and useful in both domestic and commercial decoration.
However, the typical gallery wrap process is currently laborious, and prone to error. Furthermore, certain steps in the process are irreversible. For example, a common current practice is to apply pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) in tape form to two adjacent sides of the bars, and to their eight miter faces. In a first step, the outside faces are adhered to a precut piece of fabric in a rectangular layout.
Extra fabric is then cut away, and a diagonal slit cut at each corner at a 45° angle to the axis of the bars. The tabs formed by this slitting are then wrapped around the acute end of the miter faces, and adhered using a small patch of PSA. The bars are then rolled into a position so that their mitered faced meet and the parts clamped or pinned together into a rectangular frame.
While this process does produce a finished corner, it has several drawbacks. First, an assembler can easily mislocate the adherent parts upon the fabric. When this occurs, any mislocated parts must be removed from the fabric. In this case, the PSA often no longer adheres adequately, and the entire frame kit is necessarily and wastefully discarded. Furthermore, the fabric or its printed surface may be marred or damaged in any process of adjustment or reversal.
Second, the lack of a secure corner joint, owing to the intrusion of the fabric tabs and the resulting gap over the remaining area of the miter face, makes the assembled product prone to racking of the completed frame. Racking is the shearing in one plane, usually of a rectilinear framework, from its intended geometrical plan. In the case of fabric-covered frames, racking commonly leads to buckling or puckering of the covering fabric. Insecure miter joints can also result in a twisted frame in which the corners do not reliably rest upon a common plane.
Thirdly, when parts are assembled using PSA on the above-described manner, the fabric is not meaningfully tensioned, but instead is merely held as flat as permissible during the mounting sequence. This slack assembly state leaves the fabric prone to wrinkling and sagging, both upon completion of assembly, and upon the later effects of heat, humidity, and gravity.
Whether the assembler is a skilled framer or an amateur artisan, the unreliability of current methods often leads to frustrating, time-consuming, and costly complications. Current practices of preparing gallery wraps therefore result in suboptimal acceptability rates, both during assembly of the frame and over the lifetime of the framed product.